


Family of choice

by azure_lemon



Category: Pushing Daisies
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Post-Episode: s02e06, talk about abandonment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24622903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azure_lemon/pseuds/azure_lemon
Summary: Ned accepted Maurice and Ralston are his family. Actually, he wants it this way.
Relationships: Charlotte "Chuck" Charles/Ned
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Family of choice

**Author's Note:**

> Ned didn't want to bond with his younger brothers. Though, is was the lost cause. They had to much in common. Mentioned Chuck/Ned.

They were delightfully innocent and Ned didn’t know whether he should envy them or pity them. He knew they weren’t exactly adults, more like grown kids in desperate need of father figure. Pie-maker knew this feeling too well to push them away, especially after he finally understood it wasn’t their fault that their father had abandoned him. They were as wronged as he was and now they had lost their surrogate father. Ned wondered whether he was a softie, but even if the answer was positive, it was too late. He’s already started to develop almost paternal feeling for these too. Maybe the blood is really thicker than water. Pie maker remembered vividly what Great Herrmann told him about boundaries, but he couldn’t do it. Maybe it was the solved case that brought them together or maybe an encounter with Great that made Ned long for his own father figure, but he couldn’t bear cutting these two off. For years Pie-maker thought about them as two brats that stole him their father’s love. It hurt so much when he lost his mother, it was a mixture of excruciating pain and guilt, deepened by the fact that he was left alone with all this. But that was a closed chapter. Mum was gone and Pie-maker’s life went on. Being abandoned by father was a completely different story. Apparently, despite what Ned told himself, he still needed some closure. And there they were, two carbon copies, so painfully reminding him about his loss. Their loss.  
‘’Brother pie-maker? ‘’asked Ralston. ‘’Is something bothering you?’’  
‘’I’m just happy I have you in my life,’’ replied Ned.  
‘’We are happy too, brother,’’ said Maurice, with childish honesty in his voice. For twins life was simple and black and white. Ned had too many encounters with shades of grey to still believe in distinct division.  
‘’Tell me about your childhood,’’ proposed pie-maker.  
Boys looked at one another.  
‘’At the beginning there was only me, Maurice and mum,’’ started Ralston. ‘’Dad used to visit us, sometimes.’’  
‘’We were overjoyed when he told us we’re all going to live together,’’ continued his twin. ‘’Since that time he was the best dad ever. Until he disappeared.’’  
‘’Mom moved on with her life,’’ finished Ralston.  
‘’Is Chuck going to be our new mom?’’ asked Maurice.  
‘’I don’t think so,’’ answered Ned swiftly, slightly panicked. His brothers looked so disappointed that he felt compelled to add: ‘’I mean, she likes you a lot, even more than I liked you in the beginning, but I don’t think she would like to think about herself as mum. More like a big sister.’’  
‘’That’s all right,’’ agreed the boys. ‘’We like her, brother pie-maker. Are you going to marry her?’’  
‘’I don’t know,’’ admitted Ned. ‘’Sometimes relationship gets complicated.’’  
‘’We don’t understand,’’ they said in unison. ‘’Do you love her?’’ asked Maurice.  
‘’Of course I do, but it doesn’t make things any easier.’’  
‘’Tell her that she’ll have instant family. Us.’’  
‘’I will,’’ laughed Ned. ‘’I am convinced she would love to her big family. You will always be mine, not only because we have the same father. You’ll be my family of choice, just as Chuck, Emerson and Olive. So, now, boys, tell me more about yourselves. I need to get to know my new-old family better.’’  
‘’Sure thing, brother pie-maker,’’ exclaimed Maurice enthusiastically. ‘’Where should we start?’’  
Ralston started to chat about something unimportant, but Ned was overjoyed. Maybe he and Chuck would never be able to form a typical family or have a child, but all in all he was quite content with his life.  
‘’I wish I knew you before,’’ he said. ‘’I wish we could have grew up together. Maybe I could have been one happy family.’’  
‘’I’m sure mom would love you,’’ assured him Maurice. ‘’I don’t think she knew about you.’’  
Ned had doubts about it, but he decided not to voice them.  
‘’We wish we had you before, brother pie-maker,’’ added Ralston and his twin just smiled. ‘’It doesn’t matter dad isn’t with us anymore. We have you.’’  
In this moment Ned understood that maybe even wrong deeds can bring good effects.


End file.
